New Thought

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The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a loosely allied group of organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs concerning healing, life force, Creative Visualization, and personal power. The New Thought Movement developed in the United States during the mid to late 19th century and continues to the present time. It promotes the ideas that God is all powerful and ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human self-hood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, all sickness originates in the mind, and 'right thinking' has a healing effect.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 19th century origins

The earliest identifiable proponent of New Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby(1802-66), an American faith healer, student of Mesmerism, and practitioner of hypnosis, who claimed he could heal by mere suggestion. Quimby developed a belief system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God's wisdom could overcome any illness.[1] During the late 19th century the metaphysical healing practices of Quimby mingled with the "Mental Science" of Warren Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister.[2]

New Thought as a movement had no single origin, but rather emerged along with a variety of religious denominations and churches, particularly the Unity Church, Religious Science, and Divine Science.[3] It was a feminist movement in that most of its teachers and students were women; notable among the founders of the movement were Emma Curtis Hopkins known as the "Teacher of Teachers" early adopter of the phrase New Thought in the 1900s. Melinda Cramer and Nona L. Brooks founders of (Divine Science).[3]

[edit] 20th century diversity

From 1900 through the 1920s, New Thought was popular in all regions of the United States, and spread to other nations as well. New Thought churches and centers began to form, as did New Thought clubs and other organizations.[citation needed] It was during this period that many books of the New Thought movement were published, including the financial success and will-training books of Wallace Wattles, Frank Channing Haddock, and Thomas Troward.

In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862 - 1932) wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. [4] Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine, a student of Hinduism, and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment on religious, spiritual, and occult topics. The following year,Elizabeth Towne, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of New Thought, published Bruce MacLelland's book Prosperity Through Thought Force, in which he summarized the "Law of Attraction" as a New Thought principle, stating "You are what you think, not what you think you are." [5]

The 1915 INTA conference, held in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition -- a world's fair that took place in San Francisco -- featured New Thought speakers from far and wide. The PPIE organizers were so favorably impressed by the INTA convention that they declared a special "New Thought Day" at the fair and struck a commemorative bronze medal for the occasion, which was presenting to the INTA delegates, led by Annie Rix Militz. [6]

In 1916, the International New Thought Alliance was formed, encompassing many smaller groups around the world; several years later the Alliance adopted a creed known as the "Declaration of Principles".[3] The alliance is held together by one central teaching: that people, through the constructive use of their minds, can attain freedom, power, health, prosperity, and all good, molding their bodies as well as the circumstances of their lives. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, and a new statement based on the "inseperable oneness of God and Man".[3]

[edit] Belief systems

The chief tenets of New Thought are: [7]

  • Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent.
  • Spirit is the ultimate reality.
  • True human self-hood is divine. (Christ Consciousness)
  • Divinely attuned thought is a positive force for good.
  • Most disease is mental in origin.
  • Right thinking has a healing effect.

[edit] Evolution of thought

Adherents also generally believe that as humankind gains greater understanding of the world, New Thought itself will evolve to assimilate new knowledge. Alan Anderson and Deb Whitehouse have described New Thought as a "process" in which each individual and even the New Thought Movement itself is "new every moment." Thomas McFaul has hypothesized "continuous revelation," with new insights being received by individuals continuously over time. Jean Houston has spoken of the "possible human," or what we are capable of becoming. [8]

[edit] Theological Inclusionism

Home of Truth, which, from its inception as the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, has disseminated the teachings of the Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda, is one of the more outspokenly interfaith of New Thought organizations, stating adherence to "the principle that Truth is Truth where ever it is found and who ever is sharing it." [9]

[edit] Therapeutic theories

John Bovee Dods (1795-1862), an early practitioner of New Thought, wrote several books on the theory that disease originates in the electrical impulses of the nervous system and is therefore curable by a change of belief. Later New Thought teachers, such as the early 20th century author, editor, and publisher William Walker Atkinson, delved into this theory as well. Atkinson wrote a number of books on healing and he also developed a theory of personal magnetism and success that outlined a linkage between general electromagnetic phenomena, neural processes, and mental states of being. [10]

Divine Science, Unity Church and Religious Science are organizations which developed from the New Thought movement, which teach that Infinite Intelligence or God is the sole reality, sickness is the result of the failure to realize this truth, and healing is accomplished by the affirmation of the oneness of the human race with the Infinite Intelligence or God.[11][12][13][14]

[edit] Distinguishing New Thought from other belief systems

[edit] New Thought / Christian Science

Both New Thought and Christian Science do place an emphasis on direct healing of the body, but Christian Science developed in a different direction from New Thought and is not considered a New Thought organization. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was a disciple and patient of New Thought pioneer Phineas Quimby, but she rejected his healing methods, citing her belief that healing came from the power of the Christian God, not the mind.[15]

[edit] New Thought / Christianity

Not all New Thought organizations consider themselves to be Christian (Seicho-No-Ie for example) but the Unity School of Christianity quite obviously does. Many traditional Christian writers have raised criticism aimed at Unity concerning matters of how Unity interprets the Bible[16].

[edit] Differences between various New Thought teachings

[edit] Unity / Religious Science

The two largest New Thought teachings are Religious Science and Unity School of Christianity.[Quotation needed from source] Ernest Holmes, the founder of Religious Science, stated that Religious Science/Science of Mind (RS/SOM) is not based on any "authority" of established beliefs, but rather on "what it can accomplish" for the people who practice it. [17] It therefore differs from the philosophy of another New Thought organization, Unity School of Christianity, in that it does not embrace any single traditional religion. It does, however, incorporate selected aspects of numerous traditional teachings. [18]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Phineas Parkhurt Quimby at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  2. ^ New Thought entry, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, at Bartleby.com. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, James R.; J. Gordon Melton (1992). Perspectives on the New Age. SUNY Press, pp16-18. ISBN 079141213X. 
  4. ^ William Walker Atkinson. Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction. Advanced Thought Publishing. 1906. Full text public domain version online.
  5. ^ MacLelland, Bruce, Prosperity Through Thought Force, Elizabeth Towne, 1907
  6. ^ Dresser, Horatio, History of the New Thought Movement, 1919
  7. ^ New Thought at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  8. ^ Houston, Jean. The Possible Human. 1997.
  9. ^ Home of Truth home page. Retrieved Sep. 20, 2007
  10. ^ Dumont, Theron, Q. [pseudonym of William Walker Atkinson. Mental Therapeutics, or Just How to Heal Oneself and Others. Advanced Thought Publishing Co. Chicago. 1916.
  11. ^ New Thought at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  12. ^ Official website of Divine Science. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  13. ^ Official web site of Unity Church. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  14. ^ Official web site of Religious Science International. Retrieved Nov 16, 2007.
  15. ^ Mary Baker Eddy at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
  16. ^ Vahle, Neal (1993). Open at the top: The life of Ernest Holmes, Open View Press, 190 pages, Chapter 16.
  17. ^ Vahle, Neal (1993). Open at the top: The life of Ernest Holmes, Open View Press, 190 pages, p7.
  18. ^ Holmes, Ernest (1926) The Science of Mind ISBN 0874778654, pp. 327-346 "What the Mystics Have Taught".

[edit] Further reading

  • Anderson, Alan and Deb Whitehouse. New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality. 2003.
  • Braden, Charles. Spirits in Rebellion.
  • Gold, August and Joel Fortinos. The Prayer Chest. Doubleday. 2007) ISBN 0-385-52349-1
  • Judah, J. Stillson. The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements in America. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1967. Review by Neil Duddy.
  • McFaul, Thomas R. Religion in the Future Global Civilization printed in The Futurist magazine. September-October 2006.
  • White, Ronald M. New Thought Influences on Father Divine (Masters Thesis, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. 1980. Abstract

[edit] External links